Idiot comment gets passenger detained.

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A Wisconsin man who wrote "Kip Hawley is an Idiot" on a plastic bag containing toiletries said he was detained at an airport security checkpoint for about 25 minutes before authorities concluded the statement was not a threat.

Ryan Bird, 31, said he wrote the comment about Hawley -- head of the Transportation Security Administration -- as a political statement. He said he feels the TSA is imposing unreasonable rules on passengers while ignoring bigger threats.

A TSA spokeswoman acknowledged a man was stopped, but likened the incident to cases in which people inappropriately joke about bombs. She said the man was "a little combative" and that he was detained only a few minutes.

The incident has ignited some chatter on Internet travel Web sites. More than 83,000 people have clicked on a FlyerTalk.com forum devoted to the episode, and the forum has grown to include 30 pages of comments.

Bird, the vice president of a company that manufactures industrial equipment, said the encounter occurred at Milwaukee Airport on Tuesday, the day the TSA eased restrictions on carry-on liquids, gels and aerosols.

Bird entered the airport checkpoint with a see-through resealable bag containing small containers of toothpaste, deodorant, mouthwash and hair gel -- in keeping with new TSA requirements.

"My level of frustration with the TSA and their idiotic policies has grown over 2 ½ years," he said. "I'm frustrated that poorly trained TSA people can pull random passengers out of line and pat them down like common criminals. The average traveler has no recourse."

Bird put the marked bag in a plastic tray along with his shoes and cell phone. A TSA screener saw the bag and went to get a supervisor, who grabbed it and asked Bird if it was his.

"It was obvious that he was already angry," Bird said, adding that the screener told him, "You can't write things like that."

The supervisor told Bird he had the right to express his opinions "out there" -- pointing outside the screening area -- but did not have the right "in here," Bird said.

The supervisor called a sheriff's deputy, who checked to see if Bird had any warrants for his arrest, Bird said. Bird asked the officer if he was under arrest, and was told that he was being detained, he said.

A supervisor said he was going to confiscate the bag, but after Bird refused, he just photographed it, Bird said.

Bird said he filed a complaint about the incident with the TSA.

A TSA spokeswoman said she could not confirm whether Bird had filed a complaint, but described the incident as insignificant.

Screeners looked at the bag to "make sure it wasn't anything like a bomb threat," she said. She said the man was "a little combative" and that a law enforcement officer came over, briefly interviewed him and determined that he hadn't broken any laws.

"Everyone's entitled to their own opinion," she said.

A spokeswoman for the Milwaukee County Sheriff's Office said the TSA did call the sheriff's office to report an upset customer at the checkpoint. A deputy went to the scene, interviewed all of the participants, ran a wanted check on the man, and referred it back to the TSA after determining no crime had been committed, Deputy Darice Landon said.

Landon said the original call came at 2:21 p.m., and it was unclear how long the man was detained. There is no indication that he was combative, she said.

Ryan Bird, 31, said he wrote the comment about Hawley -- head of the Transportation Security Administration -- as a political statement. He said he feels the TSA is imposing unreasonable rules on passengers while ignoring bigger threats.

Bloody right. Have they done anything about the threat
of rocket-propelled grenades (bazookas) being fired at the planes
just after takeoff?

If the only point of customs officers is to harass people who make
jokes like, "I'm just here to put a bomb on the plane," then their
judgment is for sh!t and we're doomed.

They may be spending millions on 'homeland security' but if they continue to employ troglodite 'security guards' with room temperature IQ's who get a huge hardon confiscating nail clippers who are, in theory, the front line in the War On Turr at airports God help us, then this kind of thing will continue to happen.

Bloody right. Have they done anything about the threat
of rocket-propelled grenades (bazookas) being fired at the planes
just after takeoff?

If the only point of customs officers is to harass people who make
jokes like, "I'm just here to put a bomb on the plane," then their
judgment is for sh!t and we're doomed.

Surface-to-air missiles have already been used by Al Qaeda in Kenya when they just barely missed that airliner filled with people on their way to Israel. This along with some marine attack on a port or a cruise ship is one of the biggest threats IMO. We are terribly vulnerable to a number of things. It is only a matter of time before a stinger missile brings down a passenger jet.

yeah i fucking hate traveling now for many reasons but 1 now is that u can't even rightfully argue w/ any of these assholes or they'll throw u out the airport and try to get you arrested! I had to fucking check my bag for no fucking reason when i went my gramps funeral a few months back and guess what?! It came back to me all messed up w/ the zippers broken, my shit flying out and embarrassing me, my ID tag broken off and/or stolen and no recourse for me! Nada!!! Nothing i could do about it; i just had to sit back and take it or risk being thrown in jail or worse. I got an 800 number to call but nothing has happened and likely won't! oh and guess what homophobic retarded idiot drunken-piloted airlines I was flying: American Airlines! So fuck them; i'm never flying them again no way no how!!

^ hahahah actually it was my period pads that literally flew out like a dealer deals a deck of cards on a table! I literally froze from humilation and then there was my thongs o my gawd; the terror! and my bitch sister standing there laughing and me honched over everything looking like total shit w/ my ass crack sticking up in the air!

I know someone who just got back from a trip to the States and discovered upon unpacking that he had accidentally left a water bottle and gel deoderant in the carry on instead of the checked luggage. It went unnoticed by the security guys who were probably too busy groping some woman's breasts. He also kept his Canadian and American change in separate pockets and passed through a metal detector without setting it off. Thorough huh?

And security goons are getting upset by words? Sticks and stones may break my bones but words can never hurt me.

"The howling backwoods that is IMDB is where film criticism goes to die (and then have its corpse gang-raped, called a racist, and accused of supporting Al-Qaeda)" ----Sean O'Neal, The Onion AV Club

Just because he made a true statement about the head TSA guy? Right? I mean he didn't threat to kick his ass or to give him a Dirty Sanchez BUT because he called him an idiot they did all this? WTH????